Switching Worlds
by Yaruhi
Summary: One night three friends wish that they were ninja. They wake up in Naruto's world! Why were they chosen to become ninja? & is the freaky person who says he's there to help them really their' friend? What is the secret purpose they are supposed to fulfill?
1. Confusion

I held my' stomach and tried (unsuccessfully) to quit laughing so that I might be able to breath. A few feet away from where I lay, two of my' best friends, (Who also happen to be sisters) Alex, and Tessa rolled on the floor in a similar state of hysterics.

"I can't believe he said that to you." Alex, the younger of the two, gasped once she had the breath.

"I can!" Tessa said wryly. "That jerk Vance is always hitting on half the girls at school!"

Alex grinned. "Way to tell him off Kara. You go girl!"

I grinned back at her. "I couldn't let you have all the fun Alex! After the way you yelled at him last week." I threw back my' head and laughed at the memory.

"Well he deserved all he got, the jerk!" Alex exclaimed. Her face was red with rage. "I'd have liked to use a few of my' karate moves on him that time. To bad our' teacher doesn't go for brawls in class."

"By the way Kara, how is your' Japanese going?" Tessa inquired through her' laughter.

"_Totemo yoku, domo. _(Very well, thanks.)" I replied with a smile. The two of them applauded.

The three of us are studying Japanese.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tessa exclaimed. "Look what I got from the Library!"

She reached into her' backpack and pulled out a book.

"_**NARUTO!!**_" the Alex and I exclaimed in excitement.

The three of us have been reading the Naruto series for some time. We all love it and we rarely- NO, scratch that. We NEVER get tired of talking about it. Not that we're fan-girls or anything. Cause believe me, we're NOT! We just really love the series.

"Oh awesome!" Alex exclaimed.

"Don't you guys sometimes wish that you could live as a ninja?" Tessa asked.

Alex and I nodded. Both of us knew how she felt.

We all looked at each other and grinned. Each of knew what was going threw the others' head without even asking. We all knew that the others would love that; it was something we all shared.

"It's too bad that ninjas no longer exist." Tessa said.

"If they did, we'd be three of the best ninja that ever lived!" Alex exclaimed.

The three of us laughed and slapped high-fives.

"Giiiirrrls! I want lights out in ten minutes. You've got school tomorrow. Understand?"

"Yes Mom!" I shouted. We got up and headed to the bathroom.

We walked inside and, suddenly, I began to feel sort of strange. The room seemed to be fading before my' eyes and I was suddenly surrounded by flashes and bright colors!

I heard Tessa's startled gasp and Alex's "What the heck?!" Then everything went black.

* * *

I opened my' eyes and immediately snapped them shut again as bright sunlight slanted into my' eyes, temporarily blinding me.

A startled shout of, "What the heck?! What is this?!" startled me into reopening them.

Alex was awake, her' head whipping from side-to-side in confusion. "Is this somebody's idea of a joke?" She yelled. "Cause it's NOT funny! I-" She was cut off buy Tessa's hand covering her' mouth, muffling Alex's tirade of rage.

"Would you hush up already?!" Tessa whispered fiercely. "Here we are, all alone in the middle of an unknown forest- who knows what kinds of wild beasts live in here- and you sit there screaming your' head off and alerting everything that has ears that we are here!"

Alex fell silent.

I stood up and looked about in confusion. As Tessa had said, they were in the middle of a forest. A small spring trickled through the clearing in which they lay. "What happened?" I breathed.

Alex and Tessa who had risen and now stood alongside me shook their' heads. All three of us were at a loss to explain what had happened.

"What was the last thing that you remember?" Tessa asked.

"We went into the bathroom, everything began to fade away, then I was surrounded by bright flashes and colors, and then everything went black." I recalled.

"It was the same for me." Alex put in.

Tessa nodded in agreement. "Me too."

Still looking around, I spotted three, large trunks lying on the ground near where we had first awakened.

"What?" Alex asked, noticing my' look.

I stepped over to the first of the three trunks and lifted the lid. The first thing that I saw was what appeared to be a heap of black cloth. Lifting it out I realized that it was clothing. (Really unusual clothing.) Seeing this, Alex quickly walked over to the second trunk and threw the lid up. More clothes. Tessa, who had opened the third trunk, reported the same thing.

They both looked at me in silent question.

"Well," Tessa finally said. "I don't know about you guys but I'm going to change. I'd rather not have to run threw a forest in just my' PJs!"

We split up, each going behind a separate tree to change. I laid out the cloth contents of my' trunk and smiled. My' clothes were almost all black, which was fine with me. (I'm not an emo or anything, but I wear black quite a bit because: 1) It goes well with anything. 2) It's simple. 3) It's a good color on me.

The blouse was a black short-sleeved _kimono_ that cut off half way between the hips and the knees. It was trimmed with a thin white edging and a dark scarlet sash. It was to be worn over a long sleeved shirt of black fishnet. The black pants were flexible and tight fitting, flaring ever so slightly at the ends. There was also a pair of black, fingerless gloves and some metal hand guards. Finally, there was a hood and facemask. Once I had put on everything except the hood and facemask, I returned to the clearing with my' friends.

"Whoa!" Alex exclaimed. "Look at us! We look like ninja!"

It was true. Alex wore a tight fitting black vest over a long sleeved shirt of red fishnet. Her' fingerless gloves, with the metal hand guards, extended to just above her' elbows, and she wore the same type of pants as I did, except that they did not flare at the ends. She held her' facemask and hood in her' hand.

Tessa wore a cropped sleeved, dark red shirt with a black _hamaka_ (A sort of wide sash that cinches at the waist) and a pair of black Capri's. She wore deep, burgundy arm warmers under her' fingerless black gloves, some metal hand guards and black, netted socks. She too held a facemask and hood. What was really weird was that each one of us looked as though our' clothing had been made especially for us.

We grinned at one another. "I always knew we'd look good as ninja!" Tessa said.

I turned and reopened the trunk in order to put my' PJs inside it. But what I saw surprised me. "Hey guys!" I called. Alex and Tessa came up behind me. "Is it just my' imagination, or wasn't this trunk just empty?"

Alex and Tessa quickly opened their' trunks. Inside each trunk lay a pair of ninja sandals, a belt, and a roll of bandages.

After putting on these additions to our' apparel, and bandaging their' legs, we opened the trunks one last time. This time the bottom of each trunk was covered with weapons.

"Whoa!" we breathed in unison. There were shuriken and kunai of every size. As well as daggers, scrolls three _shinobigatanas _(A short, strait sword) and three, _katanas _(long, curved swords.)

Beneath all the weapons the each of us found a Hitai-ate headband.

"The markings on these are really strange." Alex commented. "I've never seen anything like them before."

We strapped belts, and armbands loaded with kunai and shuriken, and daggers on to their' legs using leg bands. Tessa and I attached our' swords and _shinobigatanas_ to our' belts, while Alex strapped hers to her' back in an X shape. We couldn't help but marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of the longer swords. The sun glinted of the polished, razor sharp blades, and the hilts were magnificent. Each one was of sterling silver and studded with jewels; Alex's with rubies, Tessa's with emeralds, and mine' with sapphires.

"Well I guess that about does it." Alex mused as she fingered the Hitai-ate which had been tied around her' waist. (Tessa had hers' on her' forehead and I had fastened mine' about my' neck.) "I don't know about the rest of you but I think we should try to find away out of this forest."

I nodded and said, "Yeah we need to figure out where we are and then maybe we can find a way to get back ho-"

I was cut off when Tessa shouted, "Look!" She was pointing to the trunks. I turned and was shocked to see that the trunks had begun to glow brightly and were now shrinking. They continued to shrink and then disappeared with a flash of light. In their' places lay three leather strings. A gem hung on each: a ruby, an emerald, and a sapphire.

I knelt and picked up the one with the sapphire. The stone was the size of a quarter, and glittered in the sunlight. I smiled and slipped it over her' head.

Tessa picked up the emerald one and Alex took the one with the ruby.

"Wow!" Alex breathed. "I wonder what these are for."

Tessa and I shrugged in bewilderment. "I'm wondering a lot of things right now." I said.

"We should really try to find out where the heck we are." Tessa reminded us. "And I think it would be a good idea if we wore our' hoods and masks. You never know who might be in here and we were obviously given these things for a reason so I for one am going to use them." She pulled the mask and hood over her' face and Alex and I followed her' example.

* * *

"Arrraaagh!" an angry shout shattered the early morning stillness.

"Tenten, must you always yell so loudly?" I asked.

"_Gomen_ Shika. Lee is driving me nuts. He won't quite whining about not having a girlfriend!" Tenten replied.

"Oh Lee." I sighed. "Stop being so troublesome."

"I can't help it Shika." Lee replied. "If I had a girl I'd-"

"You'd protect her' with your' life!" I recited along with everyone else. "We know Lee."

Lee sighed. "If only the girl I admire felt the same way about me as I do about her."

Neji, and Shino snorted while Kiba chuckled quietly.

Sakura, the short rosette haired girl, on whom Lee had a major crush, rolled her' eyes and smacked a hysterically laughing Naruto upside the head.

"What?" Naruto questioned, rubbing his' head.

She gave him a "you know what I mean" glare.

Ino and Tenten did their' best to stifle their' giggles.

Chouji pulled a small bag of potato chips out of his' pocket and began to cram them into his' mouth. As usual he was basically ignoring everyone else's squabbles.

"What's wrong Hinata?" Naruto asked.

The shy Hyuga girl with the short, sapphire blue hair looked troubled. "D-Do you g-guys s-sense anyt-thing unusual?" She asked.

Her' cousin, Hyuga Neji, nodded. "I thought I sensed an unfamiliar presence over that way." He motioned in the general direction of the forest.

Blond haired, Ino spoke up. "Maybe we ought to take a look."

The others nodded as if to say, 'Why not? It couldn't hurt.'

Our' group altered it's course and proceeded to follow Hinata and Neji into the forest.

Five minutes later, Hinata spoke saying, "I t-think there is m-more than just-t one. I'm s-sensing the p-presence of at l-least t-two… m-maybe t-three people.

"It's three." Neji confirmed. "Whoever they are, they're somewhere close by."

Suddenly Akamaru let out a short bark and, leaping down from Kiba's arms, dashed off into the forest.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted after him. "He must have picked up their' scent!"

Everyone broke into a run, crashing ungracefully through the forest.

Without warning, Tenten and Lee, who were in the lead, came to a sudden halt. The rest of us crashed into them from behind. The force of the collision sent everyone sprawling.

When we had finally managed to untangle our' selves, we looked up to see three masked Kunoichis standing in a clearing. One of them held Akamaru in her' arms. They stared at us cautiously.

Finally Naruto broke the silence with, "Konichi wa! Welcome to Konoha, the Village Hidden in Leaves. My' name is Naruto and I'm going to be Hokage one day! Believe it! Who are you?"

* * *

Tessa, Alex and I stared at the loud, blond ninja in shock. _**NARUTO!!**_ I thought. _Did he just say his' name was Naruto? And didn't he just welcome us to Konoha? But that can't be. Konoha doesn't exist and neither does Naruto. They're just things in a book. They're not real…or at least…not in __**our' **__world. NO WAY! Could it be that the three of us have been transported to another world?? No, that's impossible…isn't it??_ I glanced over at Alex and Tessa saw that they were thinking the exact same thing.

Naruto cleared his' throat. "Well?"

_Well what?_ I wondered. _Had I missed something?_

"Are you going to tell us who you are, or what?" he prodded.

Tessa, Alex, and I looked at one another in panick, and then Tessa said, "Taeko desu."

Alex smiled underneath her' mask and said, "Yoshii desu."

My' thoughts whirled about frantically in my' head as I tried to think of a suitable name. _Female Japanese names, ummm…Jiisun? No…Hirama?nope…Zika? Not bad… ummm... How about... Rika? Yep, that'll do!_

"Rika desu." I said.

"Wow! Great to meet you!" The hyperactive blond exclaimed. "This is Sakura, and that's Lee, and there's Tenten and Shikamaru, and…" he began introducing all of his' companions.

Of course, we already knew who everyone was, but we said nothing and pretended that we knew no one.

"It's great to meet you!" Ino exclaimed. "I absolutely love what you're wearing!" "

"Arigato, Ino chan." Alex said with a smile.

* * *

I studied the three strange ninja.

The taller one had deep black eyes, while the middle one had bright blue eyes. The shortest of the three also had blue eyes, but hers' were a much lighter shade and were covered with an unusual silver sheen. I could not tell their' hair color because of their' hoods.

"Wow, don't you just love their' clothes Sakura?" Ino whispered in my' ear.

"Hai Ino chan." I replied. I had to admit, they were flawless in the clothes department.

"Where are you from?" I asked. The markings on their' Hitai-ates were unfamiliar to me which was odd as I knew the symbols of most of the villages.

* * *

The three of us exchanged glances. Why had Sakura had to ask _that _of all things? What could we say that wouldn't get us extremely in over our' heads?

Then Tessa, or Taeko, said. "We are from a long ways away. The Village hidden in Frost."

"I've never heard of that village." Neji said.

"It's a rather small village, located high up in the mountains." I said. Of course we were totally winging it, but thus far it seemed to be working, and the fact that they had asked indicated that they did not recognize the markings on our' headbands either.

"I see." Sakura said. "So what are you doing in Konoha?"

I quickly came up with a story that I hoped would pass at least for a while. "Our' village was attacked and we had to make sure that a certain person was not taken captive. After seeing that the said person was delivered to a safe place we set out to The Village Hidden in Grass to find my' uncle who supposedly lives there. We were able to get a ride on a farmer's cart, and we must have fallen asleep. The next thing we knew we woke up in the middle of the forest. Don't ask me how." I was surprised at my' own ability to lie so convincingly. I didn't lie at home.

"You must have been sleeping pretty deeply in order for him to have gotten you off his' cart without any of you knowing."

I shrugged. "Well, you can't blame people for sleeping deeply when it's their' first rest in four days."

Alex picked up the story and rolled with it. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted that farmer to take us to grass. He was entirely too merry if you ask me; I could have sworn I smelled the stench of _sake_ on his' breath."

"Well why didn't you mention that before we accepted his' offer?" Tessa asked in affected irritation. "You could have saved us a lot of trouble."

Alex shrugged "Gomen Onee san."

"Oh, you're sisters?" Tenten asked.

"Yep, all three of us." Alex replied.

Actually I'm just their' friend, but I figured that Alex thought it might be better if they thought all of us were sisters. I was sort of glad. We didn't know what had happened to us or how we were ever supposed to get back home and it felt good to be included in as a sister; we had always been like sisters anyway.

"W-Well I t-take it-t you don-t have any-wh-where t-to s-stay?" stuttered a soft voice from the back of the group. Although I couldn't see her, I knew immediately who it was.

"Lady Hinata, was it?" I asked. (Just to make certain)

"O-oh y-you can j-jus-st call m-me Hinata." She said stepping forward.

"Very well Hinata. In answer to your' question, no, I'm afraid we don't have a place to stay." I replied.

Hinata glanced over at Neji, a question in her' eyes. Neji shrugged as if to say, how should I know?

Hinata hesitated. She seemed to be trying to make a decision on something. Then she looked up and said, "W-Well why d-don't-t the t-three of y-you come s-stay at m-my' hous-se?" She suggested.

"Oh that's very kind of you Hinata, but we wouldn't want to impose." Tessa said.

"Oh it-t would-n't b-be any t-trou-ble. W-we hav-e lots-s of r-room-m."

"Tessa smiled beneath her' mask. "Well, we would be bakas to refuse soooo… thank you Hinata."

Hinata smiled. "F-Fol-low m-me." She said.

Alex, Tessa and I said goodbye to the others and followed her and Neji to the Hyuga compound.

* * *

"Okay guys, we need to figure some things out." Tessa said.

The three of us were sitting on one of the three beds in the room. Hinata had offered to let us each have our' own room, but we had said we preferred to stay together, so now we were in an extremely large room that had three, large, four poster beds, a huge closet filled with clothes (Hinata told us we could use what we wanted of the clothes) and an adjoining bathroom.

"You've got that right!" Alex exclaimed. "I mean, what happens if we happen to be apart and someone asks us a question and we have to make up something, then later another of us is asked the same question and they answer the question differently than the first person? That could get us all in big trouble."

"Alex is right." I agreed.

"Okay, first of all we have to start calling each other by the names we gave Naruto."

I nodded. "Right and we have to figure out a convincing family line and background."

"Well the story you gave was pretty good, but we need to decide what clan we are of and if we have a family or what." Alex said.

"How about we don't have a family, say our' parents died during a fever epidemic and we grew up living with one of our' mother's old friends." Tessa suggested.

"Sounds good." Alex mused. "What about the name of our' clan?"

We were all silent for a moment, wracking our' brains for a clan that would be believable.

"How about the Mekyu clan?" Tessa said after a minute.

Mekyu clan? I glanced at Alex. She looked just as bewildered as I felt. "What clan is that?"

"It's a very old clan, there are not many members of it left, but it is still a very respectable lineage."

"Hmmm…Sounds good I guess." I said.

Alex nodded in agreement.

"There's another thing." I said. "Each of us is wearing a Hitai-ate. That is the mark of a shinobi. They're going to expect us to be able to fight like ninja."

Tessa gasped. "Oh my' gosh, that's right! Even with our' Karate training, we won't be anywhere near up to standard."

"What are we going to do?" Alex asked.

I thought a minute then a thought struck me and I said, "Listen, We couldn't do jutsus or anything like that in our' world, but maybe since we're in the 'Naruto' world we could do it." "Of course," I mused, "we would be way behind in the experience department."

"But how do we know if we can do it?" Alex asked. "We need to find out for sure what we can and cannot do without letting anyone find out what we're doing."

"Maybe we can sneak out at night and practice." I suggested.

"I guess we'll have to." Tessa replied.

I nodded. "Alright then, I'll set the alarm clock for… shall we say eleven?"

"Make it eleven-thirty. We want to make sure everyone's asleep." Alex said.

"Okay, eleven-thirty. Now let's turn in so that maybe we can get at least a few hours of sleep tonight."

* * *

_Beep… Beep… Beep…_

I turned over in bad and glanced at the alarm clock; it read, 'eleven thirty one'.

I switched off the alarm and dragged my' self out of the warm bed.

On the other side of the room Tessa and Alex did the same. None of us had bothered to undress before going to bed, so now all we had to do was to slip on our shoes, belts, hoods and masks.

Tessa unlocked the window, and pulled gently on it. Much to our' relief it slid up soundlessly.

Alex locked the door to our' room, and we slipped out onto the ledge. It was about a seven-foot drop to the ground and we jumped down carefully.

Then, taking care to be as silent as possible, we made our' way to the Hyuga training grounds.

* * *

"Okay… so where should we start?" I asked after we had warmed up with some stretches. (An old habit from Karate class.)

Alex spoke up. "We need to know our' boundaries and our' limitations." She reminded us. "I think we should start by trying to manipulate our' chakura."

Tessa nodded. "I'd say it's time for some tree climbing." She stated.

"Alright then," I said walking over to a tree. "Everyone pick a tree."

Tessa and Alex stood before their' chosen trees, and the three of us folded our' hands into the sign that Naruto had used in the manga.

I closed my' eyes and concentrated, trying to focus the chakura (if I had any) to the soles of my' feet.

Nothing.

I tried again focusing harder this time… I could feel something! I really could! It was an odd, tingly sensation.

I focused it down to the soles of my' feet. When I thought I had enough, I took off running towards the tree. I focused on making the connection between the bark and my' feet. My' eyes were closed so I wasn't sure how close I was to the tree. Eye decided to open one eye, and was shocked and delighted to find my' self already twenty feet up in the air!

I slowed to a halt and sat dawn on a branch. I was at least forty feet up by now. It's a good thing I'm not too bothered by heights!

I looked over to see that Tessa and Alex had also made it up the tree. Tessa, like my' self was sitting on a branch, while Alex hung upside down from one.

"Yahoo!" Alex exclaimed. "This is awesome!"

Tessa and I laughed and nodded.

We returned to the ground and Tessa suggested that we try walking on water. "I saw a pond a little ways back." She said.

When we reached the pond the three of us got ready to try the exercise.

I glanced down at my' sapphire necklace. "Maybe we should take these off before we try." I suggested. "We wouldn't want to drop them in the water."

Tessa and Alex agreed with me and we quickly hung the necklaces from a tree branch. I walked over to the shallow part of the pond and, focusing my' chakura on the soles of my' feet, I stepped onto the water.

I sank immediately. I stepped back onto the bank and tried again. The results were the same.

Tessa and Alex tried and failed to perform the exercises as well.

* * *

"I don't understand!" Tessa exclaimed two hours later. "We were able to complete the tree climbing exercise the first time. Why can't we figure out this one?"

Alex and I just shook our' heads.

Suddenly I thought I heard a voice. _**"The gems!"**_

"Did either of you hear something?" I asked.

Tessa nodded I thought so, but it was so quiet that I assumed it was the wind.

Alex looked at us as if we were out of our' minds. "What voice? I didn't hear anything."

I placed my' forefinger to my' lips as a signal to be silent. For a moment all that could be heard was our' breathing, and the rustle of the night breeze blowing threw the trees. Then I heard it again more distinctly this time, _**"The gems!" **_It whispered.

I glanced at the others and saw by the stunned looks on their' faces that they too had heard it.

"_**You must use the gems. **_It was a strange, haunting voice; It was beautiful melodious voice, but overflowing with sorrow. Its' tone carried a sadness so terrible that it brought tears to your' eyes. It was sent shivers up my' spine.

"Whose there?" Tessa called out in a low voice. I could see that she found the whole thing just as unsettling as I did. "Who is there?" Tessa repeated.

For a moment there was nothing, then the voice spoke again saying,_** "It is I."**_

"And who are you?" Alex demanded.

"_**My' name is not important. I am a messenger." **_The unknown voice replied.

"A messenger from whom?" I asked.

"_**That and all other things will be explained when the time is right."**_The voice said.

"And…when will that be?" Alex inquired.

"_**It is not for you to know."**_ The voice said.

"If you will not tell us your' name, then at least show your' self." Tessa insisted.

There was another long moment of silence. Then the voice spoke again. _**"As you wish…"**_

We waited, but no one appeared. Suddenly Alex gripped my' arm so hard I thought it would break. I turned to her and saw the shocked expression on her' face.

I followed her' gaze and then I saw what it was that had caused the look on her' face.

There, directly to the right of us (at the base of the tree where we had hung our' necklaces) a strange vapor the color of deep crimson had filled the air. it slowly condensed until it formed a rather eerie looking figure.

The glowing figure was that of someone wearing a long cloak, much akin to that of the grim reaper, except that it was that same crimson color. A hood completely concealed the face of the person. Perhaps the strangest thing about the scarlet form was the fact that it was translucent. The three of us could see right through it.

All in all, the figure gave a very creepy impression.

**_"Hello Kara, Tessa, Alex."_** The figure nodded to each of us in turn.

"How do you know our' names?" Alex demanded.

The '_messenger',_ as he was called, let lose a sinister chuckle. It was disturbing to say the least. _**"Believe me Alex, I know far more about you than that." **_None of us doubted him.

"What do you want?" I inquired.

"_**Fear not." **_He said. (It was rather difficult to comply under the circumstances.) _**"I do not mean you any harm. I have been sent to help you."**_

"Help us with what?" Tessa asked.

"_**Primarily with fulfilling your' purpose here."**_ The Messenger replied.

"And what _is_ our' purpose?" I asked.

"_**All will be explained in due time." **_He replied.

"Is that your' way of telling us we're not supposed to know?" Alex asked.

"_**You could say that."**_ Came the vague reply.

Tessa rolled her' eyes. "Great!"

"Well, are you going to tell us anything that will help us out, or what?" I asked. This Messenger guy (I could tell by the voice that it was a guy) was really creeping me out.

The Messenger gestured to our' necklaces that hung side by side on the branch behind him. _**"You must use the gems." **_He stated. _**"When you wear them, the gems will multiply your' strength, and chakura control. They will increase your' abilities to where they would be if you had been training your' whole life. With them you will be able to pass as ninja."**_ He paused. _**"What lineage did you decide upon?"**_

Tessa spoke. "We thought that the Mekyu clan would be a good choice."

The hood moved up and down in a nod of approval. _**"Yes… it is a very good choice. The Mekyu are a powerful people, and a very respectable clan." **_He mused. Then as an after thought, he added._** "Plus their' kekkei genkai is a strong weapon."**_

"Wait!" Tessa exclaimed. "Did you just say that they have a kekkei genkai? I didn't know that."

"_**Indeed they have a very powerful kekkei genkai, called the Kaaroye."**_ He replied.

"But we don't have that ability!" Tessa said.

"_**Then I'll just have to give it to you." **_He said in what sounded like an amused voice.

"What?!" The three of us exclaimed in unison.

The messenger motioned to me. _**"Come forward."**_ He instructed. I did, and he took my' sapphire necklace from the branch and slipped it over my' head. Then laid a hand on my' shoulder. His' hand was colder than the coldest ice. It seemed to numb my' entire shoulder.

He folded his other hand into an unfamiliar sign. _**"Kaaroye ikai!" **_He exclaimed.

Suddenly I began to shake uncontrollably. Tessa and Alex yelled at the Messenger; demanding to know what he had done to me.

I felt chakura flooding my' body. The tingly feeling was now back at fifty times what it had been. I fell to the ground, and lay there trembling, unable to move. My' limbs refused to respond to the messages my' brain sent. Suddenly it was as though something inside of me exploded. I lurched forward and then the trembling ceased. I found that I was able to move once more, and shakily got to my' feet.

"_**Now, activate your' kekkei genkai." **_The Messenger instructed.

"You mean that she has it now?" Alex asked.

The messenger nodded.

"But… what sign should I use for it?" I asked.

"_**The signs will come to you. Focus, and let your' soul show you the signs."**_ He instructed.

I closed my' eyes and it was as though I had been doing it my' entire life. My' hands formed three, intricate signs and I said, _"Kaaroye!"_

I felt chakura rushing threw me. Then it subsided and I opened my' eyes. Tessa and Alex gasped.

It was so strange, it was as though I could see their' thoughts. I could also see threw them, sort of like X-ray vision.

Suddenly I saw- or rather I _sensed,_ as the he had not actually moved yet- that the Messenger was going to attack me. He was quicker than light its' self, but thanks to my' weird vision I had seen it coming. I sidestepped just as he lunged at me, a kunai in his hand. Spinning around I grasped his' arm and brought my' hand down hard upon it. A resounding _CRACK!! _echoed through the forest as the bone snapped in two.

I jumped back, shocked at what I had done. "Are you…okay?" I asked. How had I done that? I figured it must have been the necklace.

Surprisingly, the messenger did not seem to be hurt, in fact he was laughing! With one hand he formed another sign. His' injured arm began to glow a pale green. When the glow died down I was surprised, and relieved to see that his' arm now appeared to be as good as new.

He turned to me. _**"Well done Kara!"**_

My' relief now turned to anger. "Why did you try to attack me!" I demanded.

_**"To**_ _**test**_ _**your'**_ _**skills."**_ He replied. **_"Your'_** **_Kaaroye_** _**is**_ _**perfect."**_

"Wow Kara, You should look at your' eyes. They look…freaky!" Alex exclaimed.

I walked over to the edge of the pond and looked down at my' reflection. Whoa!

The base of my' eyes were a neon yellow-green color with a jet black ring about one millimeter wide where the iris would have been. The pupils were vivid silver, and in the shape of a three pointed star. It was almost too intense to look at.

"Yikes!" I breathed. I deactivated my' Kaaroye, and turned back to the others.

The Messenger now turned to Tessa and Alex. _**"Would you like to have the Kaaroye too?"**_

"Well I don't really have a choice as we're supposed to be sisters." Tessa replied as she stepped forward…

Ten minutes later all three of us had the kekkei genkai of the Mekyu clan.

The Messenger walked back to the place he had first appeared. _**"For now I must leave you."**_ He said. _**"We will meet again…"**_ then he began disintegrate back into the strange crimson vapor. It grew thinner and thinner and then it disappeared entirely.

Tessa, Alex and I exchanged glances. "Well!" Tessa said. "This has certainly been one heck of a day!"

"I'll say!" Alex exclaimed. "I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up tomorrow and find a three dragons waiting outside our' window!"

Tessa and I burst out laughing. "Come on guys." I said. "There's less than an hour till dawn. We want to be back in our' room before Hinata comes."

Tessa nodded. "And remember girls, as of tomorrow, I'm Taeko, Kara is Rika, and Alex is Yoshii."

Alex and I grinned at one another. "You've got it Onee chan!"

* * *

Hey everyone!

I'm dedicating this story to two of my' best friends: Brainiac5 and Child of Storms.

You two are awesome!

So just to go a little more into detail about the Kaaroye, It allows the user to read peoples thoughts and feelings, to see threw anything solid, and to see things happen before they actually happen. (Thus the whole "attack by the Messenger" thingy.) It also alows people to see threw genjutsus. But that isn't discussed untill later in the story.

So what did you think?

I'm not updating untill I get at least five reviews! (No flames please.)

Mata Kondo, (Until next time,)

Yaruhi


	2. The Prophesy

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The accursed alarm clock woke me up. I glanced at the time and groaned. I had literally fallen asleep five minutes ago!

I heard Tessa- oops! I mean _Taeko_ grumbling from across the room.

Yoshii lobbed one of her' pillows at the offending alarm clock and sent it crashing to the floor.

Taeko cheered. "Yeah!"

"Take that you stupid clock!" I exclaimed.

Yoshii just pulled the comforter back over her' head. Fifteen minutes later, she still refused to move. Taeko looked at me and began to spell something out to me in sign language… P-I-L-L-O-W F-I-G-H-T… Pillow fight!

I grinned and nodded. We both grabbed pillows, and at the same moment, slammed them down on Yoshii's still figure.

She leapt up and flung a pillow back at us, and a full-fledged battle initiated.

It didn't stop until about ten minutes later when a crash behind us caused us all to whirl about. The sight that met our' eyes was an interesting one to say the least. Hinata lay, sprawled out on the floor, with part of a pillow stuffed in her' mouth; her' eyes as round as silver dollars.

The three of us leapt forward to assist her; asking questions like: "Are you okay?"

Hinata spat out the pillow and brushed the feathers off of her' self, while assuring us that she was all right.

"Neji went to see the Fifth Hokage, Tsunada, early this morning. He told her about the three of you, and Tsunada said that you are welcome to stay in Konoha until you are able to locate the whereabouts of your' uncle." She said.

I felt a wave of relief rush over me. If the fifth Hokage had believed our' story, then we were doing pretty well.

"Tsunada also said that you should come to the training grounds with me so that some of the sensies can see the extent of your' training."

"Okay, when?" Yoshii asked.

"Ummmm…This morning."

"Oh…okay…uhhh…give us ten minutes to get ready." I said.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Taeko, Yoshii and I met up with Hinata and followed her to the training grounds.

Upon reaching the training grounds, we were introduced to Kurenai, Kakashi, and Guy, all of whom we recognized instantly from the manga and anime.

Kakashi was, of course, reading his' dirty, orange book and completely ignoring Sakura's lecture of disapproval.

"Well, it's good to meet you." Kurenai said after we were introduced.

"Ah, It is always a pleasure to meet young maidens, blossoming in the flower of their' youth!" Guy exclaimed enthusiastically.

Taeko, Yoshii and I exchanged glances. Yep! That was Guy all right. No doubt about it!

Kakashi put down his' book and stepped forward. "Yo!" He greeted.

"Yo!" We replied.

"The Fifth Hokage requested that we evaluate the extent of your' training. What would you say to a spar with some of our' pupils so that we may analyze your' training?"

Taeko, Yoshii, and I shrugged feeling somewhat apprehensive. "I guess so. Whom do you want us to fight?" I asked.

Kakashi looked me up and down. "How about you fight Tenten?" He suggested. Kurenai and Guy nodded in agreement at his choice.

I wracked my' brain, trying to recall every thing I could about Tenten's fighting style. I knew that she was called the weapons mistress of Konoha and that she was probably the most powerful out of the Konoha kunoichi. I also knew that Temari had easily overcome her at the chunin exams and that Shikamaru had later defeated Temari. I didn't recall having heard that Tenten had any special trademark jutsu, and I knew that she did not posses a kekkei genkai of any sort.

For a moment I thought I had an advantage. After all, I knew Tenten's abilities and she did not know mine'. But then I remembered that, other than my' Kaaroye, I didn't know my' own abilities.

_Well…this ought to be interesting._ I thought. "Sure, I'll fight Tenten." I said.

Kakashi nodded and Guy called the said kunoichi over to us and explained to her that she was to fight me.

Tenten nodded. "Okay."

The others backed up a ways and we fell into fighting stances. Tenten Charged and hurled several Kunai and Shuriken at me. I dodged them only to find myself surrounded by torrents of senbon. Some how I managed to evade them and come out of the attack, unscratched. _How on earth did I get so good a t dodging all of the sudden? _I wondered.

I soon found that I had magically become a master acrobat as well. I flipped and spun from side to side in order to evade Tenten's continuous attacks of needles, blades and bombs.

I landed gracefully opposite of Tenten. _Okay now how am I supposed to use any jutsus if I don't know the signs and words for them? _I wondered. Then I recalled the words of the "Messenger"._**"The signs will come to you. Focus and let your' soul show you the signs."**_

I closed my' eyes and focused. It was as though I was watching a screen. I saw the signs before me in my' mind and, as I watched them being formed, I felt my' own hands rapidly forming the exact same signs as if I'd been doing it my' entire life. It was as though my' body was being controlled by what I was seeing. I opened my' eyes and I felt chakura rushing through me as I heard my' self whisper the words, "Earth possession no jutsu."

Suddenly the earth where Tenten stood seemed to come alive. It formed three, strange, serpent-like creatures as thick as my' waist. One was made of mud, one of stone, and one of sand/soil. They coiled about Tenten's Legs and torso wrapped themselves around her' shoulders and neck. Tenten attempted to do a transfer jutsu but my' "mud serpent" trapped her' arms to her' sides, preventing her' from succeeding.

Independent from my' mind, my hands rapidly formed three new signs. "Stone Coffin no Jutsu." I whispered.

The "Stone Serpent", suddenly began to grow in size it became three times as large as the other two. It wrapped its' self around Tenten, covering her' completely and then, changed its' structure. It's coiled body flattened. It became dark and smooth until it looked like coffin formed completely of obsidian.

I took a deep breath and glanced at Kakashi. He nodded his' head in approval.

I turned back to the coffin and formed a hand sign. "Jutsu Release." I commanded. The coffin instantly disintegrated and fell to the ground. Having been released from her' solid stone prison, Tenten came up to me and said. "Wow! That was one amazing jutsu!"

"_Arigato _Tenten-chan." I told her.

"Well done Rika-san." Kakashi said.

I nodded to him. "_Arigato_ Hatake-Sama."

I joined Taeko and Yoshii who had been sitting beneath a tree, watching my' spar with Tenten.

They shot me glances that clearly read, _what the heck was all that?_

I shrugged. I sat down next to Yoshii.

"How did you do that?" She whispered.

"I just closed my' eyes and focused, just like the messenger said. And I formed the signs that came to me." I told them.

Kakashi gestured to Yoshii. "You can fight Lee."

Yoshii stood up. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck." Taeko and I chorused.

Yoshii and Lee settled into fighting stances. Lee charged and Yoshii executed a neat back flip to dodge his' attack. She closed her' eyes and when she opened them again they were the yellow, black and silver colors of her' _Kaaroye. _

_Good thinking Yoshii! _I mentally applauded her. _The Kaaroye will help you anticipate his' charges and make it easier for you to avoid his' attacks._

Yoshii evaded several more of Lee's attacks before she closed her' eyes again. She was focusing. I could sense the gathering of her' chakura. She formed eight hand signs and whispered something. Suddenly, the air was filled with strange, glowing threads. They multiplied, and then encircled and entrapped Lee in a web of sorts.

Lee shivered. "What is this stuff?" He asked. "It's freezing!"

They continued to multiply until Lee was covered in a glowing cocoon.

Yoshii formed the same hand sign as I had used to release my' stone coffin jutsu. "Jutsu Release." She said.

The cocoon collapsed instantly and the threads disappeared. In its' place stood Lee, blue and trembling from cold.

Within a moment he was fine again. "Yosh Yoshii-chan! That was amazing!!"

Yoshii smiled and sat down next to Taeko and me.

"What was that jutsu you used?" I inquired.

"It was called, "Asphyxiating Ice Thread no Jutsu"." Yoshii told me.

"Asphyxiating! So it suffocates you?!" Taeko asked.

Yoshii nodded. "I think it freezes you too."

Taeko stood up and Kakashi told her that she would face Shino.

Taeko fell into a stance.

I swear it's a good thing that the three of us took martial arts together. Now at least we can do a passable fighting stance!

Realizing that we would be able to better observe the spar, Yoshii and I activated our' _Kaaroyes. _

With my' _Kaaroye _activated, I could see that Shino's body was literally swarming with his' beetles.

"Ick!" Yoshii exclaimed softly beside me. She didn't really like bugs.

Shino released his' beetles and they charged at Taeko.

I watched Taeko. I could see her' chakura condensing inside of her' body, I felt her focus and as I watched she formed several rapid hand signs.

Suddenly she shot one hand forward, palm facing out as if she were going to do some sort of kung fu strike. From the center of her' palm sprung a huge, dark purple, serpent or eel. Bolts of electricity covered the eel's surface. It opened its mouth and sucked in its breath inhaling all of shino's beetles. Then it returned to her' palm and disappeared.

Shino was momentarily stunned. He was generally good with backup plans, but he hadn't expected that.

Before he could recover, Taeko formed another hand sign and she disappeared. Shino looked frantically around trying to locate her. Suddenly, to everyone's amazement, she appeared directly in front of him and just stood there, watching him. Shino recovered from his' surprise and charged at Taeko, (not that he had very far to charge) and aimed blow at her' stomach.

My' newly acquired exceptional vision picked up the flow of chakura that was condensing in Taeko's solo flexes. (A/n for those of you who don't know, the 'solo flexes' are a large cluster of nerves, located in the abdomen, right beneath the rib cage.)

Taeko waited patiently and, just as shino's fist connected with her' stomach, Taeko released all the pent up energy packed inside of her. Her' entire body began to glow and chakura, in the form of rays of high voltage electricity shot out from her' hands, feet and solo flexes. They encircled Shino, entrapping him in a net of electrical currents.

"Cool!" Yoshii breathed.

I nodded in agreement.

Guy nodded to Taeko and she released Shino from the electrical web.

Kakashi motioned for Yoshii and me to join Taeko and the senseis.

"That was a couple of very impressive jutsu displays." He complimented.

"Domo, Hatake Sama." We chorused.

"You are definitely up to chunin level." He exchanged glances with Guy and Kurenai. "Tsunada has decided that until you find your' uncle, you may remain in Konoha and will be trained under one of the Jounin who is currently without any students."

We nodded to show that we understood. "Your' choices for teachers are: Jiraya, Anko, or Shizune. Which would you prefer?"

"…"

"Eway eednay otay alktay ightray ownay!" Yoshii exclaimed suddenly. (A/n for those of you who don't know, that is Pig Latin and translates to: "We need to talk now!")

Taeko and I got her' meaning instantly, but the Jounin shot her' puzzled looks.

"Uh… Could you please give us a second?" I asked.

They nodded and we went behind a tree to discuss our' "options".

"Okay girls, what do you think?" Taeko asked.

"Well Jiraya is definitely out." Yoshii said with a shudder. "No way am I training with that perv!"

Taeko and I nodded. "So it's down to Shizune or Anko."

"I say Anko." I said. "Shizune is good of course, but she's more of a medic nin where as Anko's more of a fighter, you know?"

Taeko nodded. "Yeah, she's pretty tough alright. Okay let's take a vote. I won't ask about Jiraya since I already know the answer so, all in favor of Shizune raise your' hand…" All of our' hands remained down.

Taeko raised an eyebrow. "Ooookaaaay…All in favor of Anko?" All three of our' hands shot up.

"Awesome!" Yoshii pumped her' fist into the air. "I love democracy!"

I grinned. "Let's go tell the other's our' decision."

* * *

That night, Taeko, Yoshii and I sat in our room talking when suddenly…

"_**Konichi wa."**_

The three of us nearly jumped out of our' skins. Fortunately, we managed to suppress our' screams.

"_**Oh did I frighten you? I'm sorry." **_The voice purred.

"Messenger!" Taeko exclaimed in a tone that implied extreme annoyance. "Can you at least give us a warning instead of scaring us half to death?"

The sound of chuckling was heard and the transparent figure of the messenger materialized before our' eyes.

"What are you doing here?" I growled. I was still not sure whether or not we should trust this guy. He was sort of creepy!

He smirked. _**"I am here to tell you something very important."**_

"Such as?"

"_**Come forward." **_He directed.

We exchanged confused glances but did as he asked nonetheless.

"_**I want you three to try something." **_He said. _**"Close your' eyes and let your' hands form the signs that come to you."**_

We did as said and I felt my' chakura condensing within my' hands.

"_**Now, Open your' eyes." **_He instructed.

I opened my eyes as did the others and was shocked to see that our' hands were glowing with energy.

"What the heck is this stuff?" Yoshii inquired.

"_**It is your' chakura. The jutsu you performed made it visible." **_He explained.

"Hold on a second!" Taeko exclaimed. "Chakura is supposed to be one color unless of course the person using it is a medic nin or else the person is someone like Naruto with his Jinchuuriki. So then why is mine black, Yoshii's white, and Rika's dark blue?"

The messenger gave a nod of approval. _**"You are very observant Taeko; and you are right. This is what I wanted to tell you. You are special shinobi. Actually, you are much like Naruto."**_

"What are you saying, messenger?" I interrupted.

"_**I'm saying that you, Taeko, and Yoshii are forms of Jinchuuriki." **_

There was a moment of stunned silence followed by Yoshii's sharp exclamation of "WHAT?!"

The messenger held up his hand. _**"Allow me to explain. Many years ago, there was a clan called the "Sajido" who possessed a special ability to foretell the future with acute accuracy. But when Konoha went to war with the land of Suna, the Sajido clan was wiped out, leaving only one survivor. The survivor was a young woman by the name of Miyuri. She was an expert fighter and as a result was chosen to lead the Konoha army into battle. **_

_**Under her' leadership Konoha was victorious, but Miyuri was fatally wounded during the fight. But while she was on the battleground she had one last vision. **_

_**As soon as the Suna army had been beaten, Miyuri, the blood draining from the wound to her abdomen, drug herself to the Hokage's office and told the elders of Konoha her' vision. **_

_**She told them that many years in the future Konoha would be attacked once again, but this new enemy that would arise would be much worse than Suna. She said that if something wasn't done, Konoha would be completely destroyed and the ground would be died red with the blood of its citizens. Needless to say, the Hokage was thoroughly distressed over this grave prediction. He asked Miyuri what they ought to do. And this is what she told them: **_

"_**There is only one means by which our' village may be saved. We must find three powerful beings that will be willing to help us. We must use the forbidden jutsu to travel to the future and seal the beings within three people, that they may protect our' village."**_

_**The Hokage was skeptical about this plan for the forbidden jutsu was extremely dangerous. He asked if there was any other means by which one could travel to the future to seal the beings. **_

_**But Miyuri answered him saying, "The forbidden jutsu is the one and only method by which to seal the beings, for we must not only travel into the future, but also into a separate world, a world where the beings can live continually until the time when they must return here. I know it is a dangerous undertaking and that is why I will personally seal the beings myself. But you must hurry and find creatures who are sympathetic to our cause, for I can only hold out so long before this wound destroys me."**_

_**Thus, the Hokage hastened to meet with the creatures living in the forests surrounding Konoha. (In those days, many mythical creatures roamed the forests.) The Hokage was able to obtain the aid of three powerful beings: Katashi, the White Wolf and Protector of the Forest, Arisu, the Black Tiger and Ruler of the Southern Canyons, and Isamu, the Midnight Dragon and Master of the Night Skies. **_

_**Then, with the little strength she still possessed, Miyuri used the forbidden jutsu to transfer herself through time and worlds and sealed the three creatures into three humans of a separate world… you, are those three humans."**_

Taeko, Yoshii and I stood there gaping at him. "Say WHAT?!" Yoshii exclaimed. "You mean those beings are inside of us?"

The messenger nodded. "_**Yes. You carry Katashi, the White Wolf. Taeko contains Arisu, the Black Tiger. And Rika holds Isamu, the Midnight Dragon."**_

The three of us exchanged glances. "But…" I began. "If that is true, then that means that we…"

Taeko finished finished where I left off. "We are going to have to save Konoha!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Hey Everyone!**

**Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter posted. I had to figure out a bunch of things with Brianiac5 and Child of Storms before I could get it written. Anyway, I hope it was satisfactory.**

**Remember that reveiws are greatly appreciated. (No flames please.)**

**-Yaruhi**


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